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Donald “Bigg Wayne” Christian
1954-2019

Bigg Wayne Christian, a big-hearted man whose life story is manifested in the meaning of his last name, died Friday, October 11, 2019 in Kingwood hospital after months of fighting a long illness. He was 65.

Christian, the father of two daughters and a son, had spent his life primarily as a groceryman but he gained recognition in the Greater Houston area and even outside the state as a pioneer in the business of baseball cards and sports memorabilia, a second vocation that he began as a teenaged collector. To his dying day Bigg Wayne was an ardent sports memorabilia collector, almost exclusively to cards and other keepsakes related to his beloved Houston Astros.

When he became a dealer in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he commenced to add an additional to the moniker that hundreds of collectors and dealers knew him by. Obviously, he got the name based on his physical size. “Bigg Wayne” was a mainstay at collector shows and during one especially ambitious year set up his tables at 48 different baseball card shows.

His card ventures took him to numerous national baseball card shows and resulted in friendships with such Astros stalwarts as J. R. Richard, Jose Cruz, Ken Caminiti and many others. He loved to recount the time he was asked to join a few other dealers for dinner with the one and only Mickey Mantle, the immortal New York Yankees Hall of Fame center fielder.

Bigg Wayne loved collecting and collectors. One of his greatest thrills was taking a stash of baseball cards to the Marriott—Astrodome and the famed Shamrock Hilton Hotel to get autographs from players on each of the National League teams. He was particularly fond of becoming the mentor for younger collectors who were doing the same thing. Many of them went on to become highly successful businessmen in the sports memorabilia realm. The big man established lifelong friendships with each of these young men, and loved sharing stories about them and their collections. He also stayed thrilled with his feeling that the courtesy he extended when making autograph requests rubbed off on these young men.

Born in Corsicana, Texas on May 21, 1954, Bigg Wayne was the son of Bill Christian, a groceryman and lay Baptist minister, and his wife, Patsy, a loving homemaker who earlier in the marriage served as a Weingarten’s cashier and courtesy booth manager. In the early 1960s Mr. Christian moved the family to Houston when he got a store managership from Rice Food Market.

Bigg Wayne was the eldest of three children. Besides the older brother, there was Billy, followed by Patty, who became known as Patty Posey. He described Billy as “the greatest Christian man I will ever know” and Patty as “the prettiest girl in her class and everywhere else.”

Bigg Wayne graduated from MacArthur High School in 1974. He worked at Rice Food Market, Kroger’s and Foster’s Food Stores, a mom-and-pop, multi-store operation. He married June Meeker on February 6, 1976. The couple had three children, Junell, Pam and Michael.

After his years as a groceryman, Bigg Wayne moved his family to Lake Jackson, where he opened Bigg Wayne’s All-Star Sports, a collectibles shop featuring baseball cards “and everything else.” All told, the shop operated from 1989 until 1992, then in 1996 the family moved to Bastrop, where he was produce manager for Walmart.

In 2000 Bigg Wayne moved to Porter to serve as the first produce manager for the new Walmart and, later, as assistant manager at the Porter store. He retired in 2016.
He spent his all-too-short retirement caring for Junell and spending many hours of quality time with Michael, who under his dad’s guidance became an expert in baseball card collecting trends. The two men also could tell you anything you wanted to know about the great team known as the Houston Astros. The big man also regularly expressed his love for Pam, who had presented him with his first grandson, Wade. He also could go on about Pam’s college degree and teaching career.

Michael survives his dad, as does daughters Junell and Pam Whitaker (husband Alan) and grandson Wade Whitaker, age 5. Pam was very moved by the fact that she told her dad just weeks before he died that a second grandchild was on the way.

Besides Billy (wife Carolyn) and Patty (husband Arthur), other survivors include former wife and lifelong friend and fellow parent June Caldwell and her husband Ricky. Other survivors include his nieces and nephews and a host of friends from Walmart, Porter civic groups and, of course, sports memorabilia collectors and dealers throughout the country.

Bigg Wayne was predeceased by his loving parents, Bill, who died in 2013, and Patsy, who passed away in 2009.

Visitation with the family of Bigg Wayne Christian will be from 10 a.m. until noon on Wednesday, October 16, 2019 at Rosewood Funeral Home, 2227 Highway 59 at Community Drive in Porter, Texas. Services will follow at this location. A celebration of Bigg Wayne’s life will take place at New Caney Family Church, 23214 FM 1485, New Caney, Texas 77357. Lunch will be served.